Around May 19, 2001 I visited Arizona for a few days. The main goal was to do a Grand Canyon
rim-to-river-to-rim dayhike. Along the way, I also wanted to climb Humphreys Peak, the high
point of AZ.
Neither happened.
I drove from L.A. to Flagstaff. Imagine a real nice town, albeit a little on the small side: friendly people, nice scenery, clean air, freeway signs telling you to slow down to 70MPH before taking the next curve, the works. However, let's imagine as well that you have Altzheimer's, and you forget that every 15 minutes or so someone will silently sneak up behind you and blow a 100 decibel air horn in your ear. Ah, the price of having a downtown train station.
I figured before my Grand Canyon travail I'd take a leisurly stroll up Humphreys Peak. 8am on a weekday, no one else was around. I looked in the trailhead registry, and only two people had signed it yesterday, and no one yet today. I didn't really like the idea of being at up to 12,000' with no one else around, but I need to live up to my domain name, right?
I proceeded up the trail, which alternated between dirt, ice, and ankle deep snow, until I got to my first obstacle: a talus slope. Based on my incorrect reading of another trip report, I thought the trail continued on past the slope, so I spent a lot of time looking for the continuation of the trail on the other side without luck.
After at least a half hour, I gave up and decided to try another day. Part way down, I ran into two other hikers, and we decided to go back and look for the trail. Two additional individual hikers soon joined us. About, oh, another half hour later, I finally got the bright idea that the trail might actually switchback at the junction with the talus slope. Hey, that part was covered with snow, but we soon found some faint tracks. Up we went, the happy hiking party.
Between the altitude and my exhaustion from having to twist and turn for a few minutes trying to extract my foot from underneath a snow covered rock, I soon fell behind. I ended up losing the trail again, and trying to go cross-country to get to the ridge. But, around 2pm I gave up, somewhere on the other side of 11,600'.
Well, to cut a long story short, I ended up gaining just 2000' of elevation in about 9 hours total. Pathetic.
I pulled a muscle trying to extricate myself from under the rock, so I never got to do the Grand Canyon hike.
But, I did get to the G.C., and a few other places as well: Red Rocks State Park near Sedona, the Sunset Crater National Monument, Red Rocks Canyon near Las Vegas, and the Preserve Casino in Vegas. What was the architect of that place thinking I wonder?
Painted Desert, eh?
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Nothing on this page should be considered travel, exercise, driving, shopping, or lifestyle advice. If you attempt any of the activities outlined above, you are solely responsible for the consequences. The background graphic was stolen from www.nps.gov.